Secrets and Lies
by AnamatronicFish
Summary: The celebi gets in over his head when he goes further ahead in time than he's permitted. Takes place in a verse with gijinkas.
1. The Whimsicott

There was a great void the little time traveler couldn't identify. An emptiness that rested over the whole universe and smothered out some great point of power he'd come to depend on. He was adrift in the here and now. Just as confused and helpless as he'd been on his first solo trip through time. His antennae curled up. The altered form wasn't fun, either. He wasn't fond of being this big. Not one bit. It was awkward and longer than he was used to and came with a number of parts he couldn't determine the value of and was overall not recommended. Zero stars out of ten, would not suggest to Ether or Anikitos. He kicked his heels against the rotten stump. He wasn't even supposed to be here, Elian told him not to go so far into the future the day he was made. Now, here he was, stuck and he was such a stupid, dumb plant, he should have never come to the-

Kh-tunk!

An aspear berry bounced off the celebi's head and knocked him backwards off the stump. He hit the ground with a crunch as his wings crumpled under him. His vision went dark and his ears- the modified form was so weird!- rang as he lay on his back. His antennae drooped. He should get up, but it was so much easier to lie on the cool forest floor and mope among the old leaves. Soooo much easier. Ten times easier. He squeezed his eyes shut. The berry hurt more than he wanted to admit. One tiny berry. What else was there to sulk about, again? There had to be more. His antennae twitched in agitation as the full extent of his problems returned and hit him as hard as the-

Kh-tunk!

A second aspear berry hit his forehead, followed by a third. The celebi scrunched his face up and squirmed in mild to moderate pain. He had zero interest in being pelted by hard, sour berries. None at all. None!

"Leave me alone," he said, "I don't even want those!"

"Uhh, no duh you don't want those," said the voice. It was a pleasant voice that reminded the celebi of wooden wind chimes. Clear and mellow with a solid rhythm and beat. He'd like the voice a lot more if it didn't come with physical violence in the form of berries.

The celebi pressed his hands against his face. His antennae weren't at the top of their game in this shape, but they worked well enough to give him a good idea of his assailant's location. This pokemon was close by. Really close by. Probably on the stump and watching him close by.

"Then, stop," he said, his words muffled.

"Stop doing what?" said the other pokemon.

"Throwing berries at my head."

He shifted his position so but the change didn't help his wings as much as he'd hoped it would. Why did life have to be this complicated? Another berry hit his head.

His antennae twitched and he opened his eyes. The berry situation had gone on long enough. It was time to put a stop to... Time to put a stop to... A lady stared down at him. A lady with bright yellow eyes and white hair that floofed out all around her round, dark face. Her blue horns caught his gaze, as did the tensed position of her arm. There was a berry in her hand, aimed at his face. His antennae curled and he let out a soft, bii.

"Good," said the whimsicott, and lowered her hand. "Verrrry good, look at that, I can see your face now! You're looking less pathetic by the second! Come up, on your feet"

She reached down and snagged both of the celebi's hands and gave him a solid tug. It wasn't a forceful action, but, the celebi wasn't a sturdy creature. The pull got him back on his feet and off the ground. clumps of dirt and torn pieces of leaves clung to the time traveler's soft green clothes. He looked from the lady's face, to their hands, and pulled his fingers out of her grasp. Enough of that.

"Now, come on, come on, what's got you all worked up. That was some pretty great sulking you had there and most folks don't sulk for nothing." The whimsicott stood up on the stump and stared down at the celebi. "Unless that is legitimately your hobby. If it is, I mean, wow. I know it's your time to waste, but, there's got to be something better you could do."

"I am not wasting time." The celebi narrowed his eyes. "I do not waste time. I had a very important situation to consider before you knocked me off the stump."

"Ooooh, an important situation. Care to share what kind of important situation is keeping you busy?"

She leaned down to stare square into the face. To stare at him with those intense, yellow eyes. Those sparkling, intense, yellow eyes that reminded the celebi of blossoms on berry trees.

He gave his head a shake and shut his eyes. This was a terrible time to exist. He should have never come this far into the future. Hadn't he learned last time? It was too far. Way too far, and put him out of his element. He didn't know how to handle mortals. Now here he was, stuck with a whimsicott with yellow blossom eyes and hair that looked softer than anything he'd ever seen, and he had no idea what to do. No idea at all, other than the passing thought that he should hide in this lady's fluffy, soft hair, but, problem! He was too big to do anything like that outside of his natural form.

"An important one."

He folded his hands together. That is all the information the mortal needed and that was all the information the mortal would get. All of it. It was none of her business. She couldn't do anything to help him out of his situation. Nothing at all, it was well out of her hands.

"Yeah? That's cool, I guess." She hopped and landed cross-legged on the stump.

A silence fell over the forest clearing. Wind blew through the branches of trees and shook the sun-dappled leaves. They shimmered and whispered and murmured in the honeyed light of the afternoon sun. The celebi opened one eye and watched the mortal. That wasn't an impressive attempt at prying information out of him. In fact, it was entirely lackluster. He wrung his hands, both eyes open and locked on the other pokemon. He wanted her to pry. He wanted her to ask why the celebi, the assistant to time itself, was here in the forest. He wanted her to pry into his business like Ether did. He wanted to tell someone else why he was upset and what happened.

"It's not. It's really bad." He couldn't keep his mouth shut. He just couldn't keep himself quiet, ugh, he was such a dumb plant, so dumb, so, so stupid. "I messed up a whole lot, and now Elian is going to be mad at me and I can't go home because I lost it and. And. You know. I just don't know what to do?"

The whimsicott shifted her position. Their eyes met and she smiled. The celebi rubbed at his nose and blinked. She had a nice smile.

"Hey, it's okay. Tell you what. I've got some free time. I'll help you find what you're looking for."

"I can't tell you what it is." He had some standards to stick to, no matter how upset he felt.

"Well, I guess I won't be much help, huh?" She grinned and leaned closer, eyes still on the celebi. "What's your name? I go by Idril, myself."

Idril. The celebi thought about the name and how it sounded when he rolled it around his green haired head. It had a nice flow to it, but, what did he know about names and how they sounded? He thought back to Ether and Anikitos, the other two assistants created at the same time as him. One day, he talked to his friend, who announced that, rather than deoxys, the celebi should refer to him as Ether.

It was a strange point in his life. He always assumed that, while the rest of the world and universe changed around him and aged and molded itself into new forms, the three of them would stay relatively the same.

Turns out the trio who worked with the victini decided it wouldn't do for him to go around without a true name and assigned him one right on the spot. Ether was impressed by this change and ran off to Brahm to ask for a name of his own. The name related events happened centuries ago from his own perspective, but, unlike his friends, the celebi remained nameless. He never asked Elian for a name and the dialga did not offer one up to him. It was a mutual acceptance of his nameless state of being.

The celebi realize that kind of answer wouldn't satisfy a mortal. Mortals liked names. It helped keep track of specifics, which made sense, now that he thought about it. There were more creatures in each species when it came to mortals. He could get away with being the celebi since there was just him.

"I am the celebi."

Idril raised an eyebrow at him.

"The celebi? That's not really a name, kid."

He knew it. He knew she would fuss if she had to call him the celebi. Entirely, one hundred percent knew it. He straightened himself up with all the dignity he could muster.

"It is enough of a name for me."

"No, seriously, you kind of need a name. I don't want to get my celebis confused, after all."

He blinked, caught off guard once again. That wasn't something the celebi expected to hear from the whimsicott. Idril. Whatever.

"There aren't any other celebi."

"Oh, there sure is another celebi. I saw one years ago. The kid was pink as a pecha berry and stressed as all else."

Idril crossed her arms and nodded her head, as if that was the end of that matter. The celebi waited for her to elaborate on whoever this other guy was, but, the grass fairy held her ground and her silence. His antennae drooped and he wrung his hands together with more urgency. She couldn't leave him with that piece of information then stay quiet. That was unfair and cruel to his sense of curiosity. He had to goad her along.

"A pink celebi?"

"Mmmmhm! Pink. Very, very pink."

"What was he doing?"

"Woaaah, listen to that! You sound all stressed out now. He was getting his friend some help, actually. It was pretty cute. Little pink guy and an entirely spent fluffy orange dude. I helped him out a little bit. Got him into a town. My friend's cousin figured out the worn out guy was a victini and gave the celebi some advice on what might be wrong and what to look into. He thanked him, gathered up the victini, and disappeared off to who knows when. Never saw him after that, but, makes sense, I guess."

The celebi wasn't sure what to make of Idril's story. She seemed confident of its authenticity, but none of the details matched up. The largest hole was the pink celebi. He was positive he was the only one. Entirely certain. Elian would not make a new timekeeper. And the part with the victini being out of energy? Entirely implausible. He wasn't even sure if mortals were supposed to know about most legends. It wasn't a question he'd ever asked Elian before. Come to think of it, this was the second time he'd sat down and talked with a mortal. He tended to keep away from them under normal circumstances.

"Very impossible. Did it say it was a celebi? If it didn't say it was a celebi, then it probably wasn't. You can't jump to conclusions like that, okay? And, besides, why would a celebi spend too much time with a victini? That would be fire and grass, and no! No, that is very dangerous and not good at all, and no! No, just thinking about that is enough to put me on edge. Carrying around a combustible pokemon, the very idea-"

Idril tucked a tuft of hair behind one of her horns and cut him off.

"Okay, how about this. Alonzo."

She swept her hands in a wide arch when she said the name. The celebi blinked, uncertain how to progress from here. Her statement had nothing to do with his concerns. Nothing at all. It was entirely unrelated.

"What does that have to do with-"

"Nothing, I was just tired of hearing you freak out about something that happened to me ten years ago. Anyways, it means 'ready for battle' and whatever."

His antennae curled. Fine. Fine, that was just fine. It was okay. He would let the topic rest. He had more important things to worry about than some fake celebi and- wait a second. Ready for battle? What kind of pokemon did she take him for? He went out of his way to avoid all conflicts in general. He frowned and narrowed his eyes.

"Hey, wait! Wait, wait, wait, no! I don't want a name like that! Take it back!"

The whimsicott shrugged and gave him a pat on the head.

"Sorry, kid, it's too late now. You're stuck with it."

Just like that, the timekeeper got a name. Alonzo. Ready for battle. He looked to the side. Maybe he could win over her sympathies with being polite. It couldn't hurt his chances of getting a less related to violence name.

"Please? Please can I have a different name?"

"Well, I dunno," Idril said, a wide grin stretched across her face. "You're kind of saddled with that name now. It's how it works, you know? Out of my hands now. Buuuut, I guess I could give you a nickname if you want."

"Yes, please, give me one of those, I'll take it!" Okay, so he was a little bit desperate. Ether and Anikitos had names that fit their jobs and abilities so well. If the celebi took on a name, he wanted it to match him at least a little bit. Even if it was just a nickname that didn't directly contradict his life values.

"Oookay, you can be Lonnie. Lonnie, Lonlon, Lonners."

"...I changed my mind."

The whimsicott laughed and put and arm around his shoulders.

"You're stuck with Lonnie, now."

Lonnie scowled at his hands. Lonnie. His name was Lonnie. He wasn't sure what kind supporting evidence Idril had to support her claim that he was stuck with this name, but, she seemed to know what was going on. There was only one thing to do now. Accept the fact that he had the worst name of his friends and come to terms with his life as Lonnie.

"Fine, fine, okay, I'm Lonnie, are you happy?" he said, and pressed at his antennae in an attempt to flatten them against his hair.

"Kinda happy. I'll be happier once you tell me what you're missing. You know, the thing you were sulking about?"

"It's just the Time Flute, okay, I-"

His mouth snapped shut and he flushed red. Right! Riiight, wasn't he not going to tell her what he lost? Hadn't he made up his mind to spare some of his dignity around Idril, the strange whimsicott who gave out names? He pressed his hands against his face and slumped. He needed to follow through with his convictions. He needed to not blurt out his secrets to near strangers. He needed to find the one relic Elian trusted him with that he'd managed to lose within the hour he'd spent in the here and now.

Idril tugged his hands away from his face and made eye contact with him once again.

"Time Flute, huh? Sounds like there's a bit of a story behind it, Lonlon. Why don't you tell me what happened and we can get looking for it."

Lonnie wrung his hands together. Well. It wasn't like he had much of a choice anymore. He had nothing to hide from the fluffy mortal. Even if she didn't know what was so special about the Time Flute, she must have guessed it was important. He exhaled and scuffed his boot against the detritus.

"All right, fine. But, it's going to take a little bit of exposition first if I want it to make sense."


	2. Lonnie is a Nervous Wreck

"So, run this by me one more time. You lost the Time Flute, which is...?"

"Time Flute is an important artifact. Whoever plays it summons me from whenever I am. Elian- ...the dialga made it after I was created. He told me to take good care of it if I ever took it out with me."

Whiiiich he didn't do. He'd taken it along since he liked the sound it made and dropped it somewhere he couldn't find it. Lonnie scuffed the toe of his left boot in the dirt. He didn't like the explanation for why he was trapped in the here and now. He didn't like that the whimsicott he met a few hours earlier was the one to hear his story of just how bad he messed up. Maybe he just wasn't used to talks with mortals of any variety. He glanced over at Idril.

Her attention was on the leaves and branches of the trees, not on the ground and fallen twigs. Lonnie wasn't sure what she expected to see up there. The Time Flute couldn't fly or float or anything. He doubted Elian would let him take it if it had a strange quality like that. Not that he'd specifically asked to take the flute today.

"And, that's all it does?"

"Well, I mean, yes. Yes, that is all it does."

He shut his mouth. That was all the flute did. The only thing. It was designed to summon him back if he got too lost or disconnected. It was a failsafe. Lonnie clasped his hands together. His antennae curled into tight coils as a great, cold weight tugged at his insides. He shouldn't have taken it and lost it, he really, really shouldn't have. It was his da- it was Elian's and-! He shivered and scrunched his shoulders up against his head. The weight remained and he kept his mouth shut.

Idril walked on in silence next to the timekeeper. He glanced at her from his hunched over posture. He wondered if she would call him out on his actions. If she would turn to him and say, 'Way to betray your boss' trust,' or, whatever. Maybe it would be more like, 'Wow, you're really bad at this whole not messing up thing, aren't you,' or even, 'So, you had one job regarding that flute and you went ahead and screwed up, great work.' He wrung his hands together and squeezed his eyes shut. He never realized just how many ways he could imagine someone else scolding him. He'd be a bit more impressed with himself and his new-found creativity if the sick, heavy sensation in his abdomen wasn't so hard to deal with.

Idril was quiet, her attention on the tree line. She didn't spare a single glance towards Lonnie. There was no criticism from her direction. Maybe that was how she intended to make him learn from his mistake? By being quiet? He pressed his joined hands against his chest and let out a sad, bii. The ill feeling increased.

"Soooo, you were all, what, no, never, at the idea of being pink and chilling out with a worn out victini. What's going on with that, Lons?" The whimsicott turned to face him and locked him in place with her eyes. "Do you hate the color pink, orrrr victinis, orrrr forestssss?"

"What?!" Lonnie's antennae pricked up in surprise. His hands dropped to his side, balled up into small fists. What was this lady talking about, that was utter nonsense! "No! Nonono, how could I hate forests? Forests are part of my job description, I love them!"

The whimsicott laughed and clapped a hand on Lonnie's shoulder.

"I'm teasing, I'm teasing, don't get your wings in a tizzy. They're really part of your job, thoooough?"

"Uh-huh! They are. I make sure nobody messes up the forests I know about too badly. That's- Well, it's kind of why I came here in the first place." He shuffled his feet in the dead leaves. It was entirely why he came into the future in the first place. There was no 'kind of's about it.

"Ohhh?" She gave her hair a shake and grinned. "I'd like to hear about this!"

"Mmhm. See, Elian gives me time off for breaks, and, um. I guess..." he wrung his hands together, eyes locked on the ground. It was hard to talk about himself. It shouldn't be, but it really was. He gave his head a shake and pressed on. "I guess that. Um. Well. I like to spend time in this forest in my here and now, and I just. Um, I guess I got a little bit worried since. Um...well, there was-"

He looked over at Idril. Her eyes were still on him. He still had her attention. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. It made him feel warm and light, at least, and that wasn't so bad. It was better than the cold weight he'd dealt with just a minute earlier. His antennae twitched and he dropped his gaze back to his hands, a little smile on his face.

"See, there was a forest fire...and, um, it didn't cause too much damage. And, I mean, it's not like it was unnatural or anything since fires happen all the time, but, it got me thinking about what ifs, and, um. I decided I would make sure the forest was still standing in the future. Which, um, I guess I shouldn't have done that since Elian doesn't want me traveling too far into the future by myself and it's against the rules, but, it's not like I'm messing around with anything or- well. Okay." His antennae drooped. "I guess I can't say that nothing bad happened. I lost the Time Flute."

Idril ran a hand through her hair and blinked at him. She seemed to consider his flustered explanation with more care than he'd expected her to. Shoot. It made sense, right? He hoped everything fit together properly. Ugh, he was the worst at this. He shouldn't have even tried to explain things, he just made everything worse, he knew it.

"So, you came here because you wanted to check in on your forest when your boss gave you a bit of time off?"

"He's not really my- ...well, okay, yeah. I guess he's my boss." Lonnie shifted his weight from his left foot to his right. She was entirely correct. There was no way in which Elian wasn't his boss, but. He shifted his weight back to his left foot. "But, I mean, he's more than my boss. Elian is the one who made me, with the creator's help."

"So, he's your dad?"

"Ye- ...well, I. No, not-" Lonnie paused and shut his eyes. Okay, yes, she had him there. "Yeah. Yeah, he's my dad."

He hadn't said it out loud before. It had been in the back of his mind for at least a hundred years now, just as a thought. A piece of information to consider. He'd overheard mortals talk about mothers and fathers. He'd watched families in the forest. Boss, father, creator, mentor, caretaker, all of those fit. They were all part of what Elian was to him. He just couldn't bring himself to isolate the more familial parts when he referred to Elian. Maybe it was all just anxieties. Lonnie didn't want to call the dialga his dad and then have the god of time stare at him and tell him to stop being ridiculous or something. He decided to change the topic. He got nervous when he thought about labeling Elian like this.

He needed a distraction for Idril's topic of choice. He did not want to talk about Elian anymore. The whole conversation made him anxious and changed the light, warm sensation to the heavy feeling that weighted him down and gave him that slightly sick sensation in his stomach. What could he talk about that wouldn't make him upset and would interest the whimsicott? He didn't know about a whole lot of things. Mostly just plants and time. Sooo, his work. He knew how to talk about his work. Maybe he could talk about Ether for a while, but, he didn't want to always default to talking about Ether when he needed a good conversation starter. Sure, Ether was interesting, but stories about the deoxys required too much explanation and build up. What he needed right now was a quick fix and a solid distraction.

"But, uh, anyways, this sure is a weird time, isn't it?" There, he thought. That was a good topic.

Idril tilted her head to the side and frowned. Curls of her white hair tumbled over her shoulder in a thick cascade. Lonnie had never seen hair flow like that. Granted, most of the pokemon he interacted with and watched in his actual time preferred their natural forms to these strange equalized ones. He wondered if effected what kinds of hair he saw. He also wondered why he just spend a minute of his time focused on the whimsicott's hair. He frowned and tapped his fingers together while he waited for a response.

"I don't know what you mean, Lons."

"You don't?" He straightened up and shifted his weight again. That was very, very odd. How didn't she notice how strange everything was here in the future? Wait. Waaaait. His antennae curled up and his face flushed. Right. He was just dumb, okay. "Well, I mean, uugh, hold on. Yeah. That makes sense, sorry. It's just weird for me, I'm being weird, sorry!"

"What do you mean by that?" She put her hands on her hips and took a step closer to the celebi. He wasn't certain how she managed to look more in charge by being closer to him, but, she pulled it off. "You're gunna have to talk straight if you want to change a conversation like that, okay? Talk straight and don't dodge the point. In fact, I'm going to tell you a very obvious secret. I'm interested in what you have to say. I am curious. But, if you're not clear about things and keep dodging around I'll just give up. Understood?"

Lonnie let out a soft buzz of a trill and nodded his head, entirely uncomfortable. It felt like his insides were made of stone and his face was on fire, neither of which sensations he liked in the least. He pressed his small hands against his cheeks. They felt warm.

"I- yes. Yes, okay, talk straight and don't dodge. Got it." He nodded his head more times than he needed to.

"Excellent! Now, why don't you start by telling me what your home time's like, Lons? When are you even from?" She took a step back, the smile back on her face.

"I was made not long after the start of the universe." He kept his hands pressed over his cheeks while he talked. "Elian made me to assist him as the timekeeper before any mortals were around."

"Well, dang, son! I guess the real question is, how old are you?"

"How old?" He shut his eyes and added up the years of his existence. "Maybe, five hundred years?"

"You don't look half bad for a five hundred year old, you know that?"

The celebi's hands moved from his cheeks to over his eyes. Everything about him felt warm. Everything. His face, his weighted down chest, his ears, his legs, his arms, his feet, his hands. It was all warm and all filled with the sensation of the charged air before a thunderstorm. He pressed his face closer against his hands.

"I-I, no, well, not really, 'cause, this isn't-!" He paused and peeked out from behind his fingers, eyebrows quirked up in his distress over the strange physical sensation. He dropped his voice's volume until it was a light whisper. "This isn't even what I'm s'pposed to look like, it's not my natural form."

Idril pursed her lips and looked at the ground for the first time all afternoon. Her right hand slid to her side and into a dark brown messenger bag. She pulled out a plain, bound book and an ink pen.

"Right. I wanna see what this natural form of yours looks like." She pried Lonnie's hands off of his face and slid the book into his fingers.

"I don't know what you want me to do with this," he said. He was tempted to hide his face behind the book now that his hands were filled. As far as hiding spots went, it didn't seem half bad.

"Here, I'll show you." The whimsicott reached over and spread his hands so that the book opened to a blank page. "Now, sit on down and I'll show you a neat trick, okay, Lons?"

He sat down after Idril pushed at him for a minute. The whimsicott tilted the book towards her and pressed the pen against the cream colored paper. Lonnie watched the nib- was it still called a nib with these kinds of pens - glide across the page. It formed swoops and swirls and curls until everything tied back together into a small picture of Idril. Lonnie leaned forward, eyes wide. He wasn't sure how she'd turned lines into herself, but he was more than a little bit intrigued by the concept.

She set the pen in his hands.

"Here. Draw yourself, Lons."

He stared at the pen, then at the paper. All right. He could do this. The drawing part would be very hard, but, he knew what he looked like. He just had to work through this in pieces. Two thick circles for his eyes. Okay, that looked sort of all right. They were pretty close to being circles, at least. But, then there was his head. He dragged the pen across the paper, but, the head was a real miscalculation on his part. Lonnie wasn't sure if it was the angle or the size, but something about the head was entirely wrong. His antennae curled up and he glanced at Idril, his face warm.

She grinned at him and nodded. Her approval this early into the drawing was a good sign. Lonnie rubbed at his nose and furrowed his brow before he set on the task of drawing his body. That wasn't so hard. It was just kind of a squished circle thing that- no, okay, yeah. Lonnie frowned at the paper. Nooo, that wasn't much of a body at all, his product quality slipped way down as soon as he was past the eyes. He added some feet and arms, which helped make the picture a bit more identifiable. It was still crude at best, he decided as he added the wings and antennae. His eyes flicked to the side again and met with Idril's.

"Aww, Lons, that's really cute! You look like a little bug fairy or something. Thanks for drawing yourself for me." Idril reached over and pat him on the head, and grinned. She took the book and pen back from him and tore the piece of paper out of her book. Without a moment's hesitation, she handed the sheet to Lonnie. "Here! Your first drawing ever. You can hang it on your wall or give it to the dialga or something. It's pretty good for a first drawing, you know?"

He took the paper as his face split in a wide, trusting smile. Idril thought it was pretty good! She said it to him about his picture and-! The electric, charged feeling in his body increased in intensity. He hugged the sheet to his chest and, for a moment, he forgot about the weight that lay in his chest. Everything was all right. It didn't matter that he didn't have the... that he didn't have the-

The Time Flute. His eyes went round. Elian's relic that he'd borrowed and lost, he still hadn't found it, it was still gone, and the sun. Ohhh, the sun, it was so low in the sky, it was the gloaming hour and he was such an idiot! Such a dumb plant!

"Hey now, it's okay, Lons. Here. No need to get all worried just yet. There's still time left in the day." Idril crawled forward a bit, concerned. She tugged the celebi over and into a hug. "I want you to do me a favor. Close your eyes."

Lonnie shut his eyes as tight as he could and made as many mental notes on the way Idril's hug felt as he could. He didn't manage to hug her back. That was a bit out of his capabilities. He enjoyed it, though. He leaned into the hug and relaxed. He let the warmth from Idril wash over him and calm his nerves. It lingered on for ten seconds before Idril let go and set a small bundle in his hands.

By the time he opened his eyes, the whimsicott was gone. He was alone amid the trees, left with the drawings and a small flute, wrapped up in a scrap of paper.


End file.
